Election 2004: A look at the Democrats
By Dan O'Brien, Collegian Staff
March 01, 2004
Tomorrow, "Super Tuesday" will bring primary elections to ten states - Massachusetts, New York, California, Ohio, Connecticut, Maryland, Vermont, Rhode Island, Georgia and Minnesota. Ohio is viewed by political analysts as the key state on March 2. Only two Democratic candidates have ever won the Presidency without taking Ohio - Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.
But history can be made in this year's election. In order to win the party nomination, the goal for the candidates in the primaries, is the number of delegates they receive. The "key state" of Ohio has 140 delegates, but there are big prizes in other states as well, including Massachusetts, which has 121 delegates and New York, which has 287.
In light of the razor-thin 2000 presidential election, people across America are feeling the pressure more than ever to come to the polls and vote. The Democrats claim there is more at stake this time around, attacking the changes that have been made since the Bush administration took office, including the Patriot Act and weakened environmental standards.
In the push for educated voters, the Collegian has compiled a list showing where each Democratic candidate - Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Oh.) and Rev. Al Sharpton, human rights activist from New York - stands in his own words on issues important to college students.
Abortion
All of the candidates have said they are "strongly opposed" to appointing judges to the Supreme Court who will outlaw abortions.
Edwards: "I would help lead a fight to pass a federal freedom of choice act so that [a woman's] right to choose is guaranteed and protected no matter what the court does."
Sharpton: "My religion says that abortion is wrong. And while I may believe that life begins when the sperm meets the egg, and that only God should decide whether to take a life, I will not stand in the way of a woman's right to choose. If women do not have a right to choose, then it's a civil rights violation."
Kerry said: "I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman's right to choose or the constitutional right to privacy, on civil rights and individual liberties and on the laws protecting workers and the environment."
For a period in Kucinich's political career, his stance on abortion was pro-life. However, his position on the issue has changed. He gives voters an explanation of his change of opinion on his website.
Kucinich said: "The decision to terminate a pregnancy is one of the most serious decisions a woman might make. It is deeply personal. In our society, all women and all men have a right to make difficult moral decisions and make personal choices. But women will not be equal to men if this constitutionally protected right is denied."
Gay marriage
The gay marriage debate has not been at the forefront of this election, despite being a hot topic for politicians in recent months. None of the Democratic candidates have stood by President Bush's position, calling for a ban on gay marriage, but their positions are divided between supporting civil unions or supporting gay marriage.
Kerry: "I am for partnership rights. I am for civil unions."
Edwards: "Massachusetts has just made a decision that embraces the notion of gay marriage. I think these are decisions that the states should have the power to make."
Kucinich: "I would help to create a culture in America so that people could be whoever they are, because if America is about anything, it has to be about a chance for people to live out their dream and to express their own authenticity. And so, gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender people under my administration would have full participation, and they would also have the right to marry."
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Sharpton said the very question of whether gays ought to be eligible for marriage was insulting.
Referring to civil unions: "That's like saying you give blacks, or whites, or Latinos the right to shack up - but not get married. . . It's like asking 'do I support black marriage or white marriage'. . . . The inference of the question is that gays are not like other human beings."
College affordability
Edwards: "My agenda includes a plan to make the first year of college free for any young person willing to work for it."
Kucinich said: "In order to pay [for my plan of free public college tuition] I would cancel the tax cuts to the top brackets and revoke the extra $87 billion the President spent on the defense budget."
Kerry's plans to help college affordability include tax credits and a "Service for College" plan, which would have students serve in the military for two years in exchange for a four-year college tuition payment towards a public college in the recipient's home state.
United States' Military Presence in Iraq
Kucinich: "I will work tirelessly ... to gain approval of this plan at the United Nations, and to put it into action, bring all U.S. troops home in 90 days."
Edwards: "Involve our allies, the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in establishing a free Iraqi government with legitimacy in the region and around the world."
Sharpton: "[I will] move to bring the troops home by appealing to Kofi Annan and the United Nations to convene as a world body to oversee, without United States control, the redevelopment and rebuilding of Iraq and would submit to that as a partner but not as a dominant force in terms of our contractors or in terms of military."
Kerry: "We should not send more American troops. That would be the worst thing. We do not want to have more Americanization. We do not want a greater sense of American occupation. We need to minimize that. And the way to do that is do everything possible, including sharing the power, to bring other countries in to take the burden."
Environment
Sharpton: "Converting our economy to renewable fuels as rapidly as practical and feasible would be one of my top priorities. I believe that protecting the environment is also labor intensive. Thus, creating a clean, safe and sustainable environment would also create jobs, not cost jobs."
Kucinich: "[I will help] make clean, healthy water a right for all, strengthening air and water protections. Regulation and enforcement against polluters will be increased, while environmentally responsible farmers and businesses will be rewarded and will work to stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems, will make a major investment in water system infrastructure, and will make a significant financial commitment to providing healthy drinking water to all the world's people."
Kerry: "On Earth Day 2003, I announced a proposal to resume the battle against environmental injustice, in part by greatly elevating its priority for the EPA and other federal enforcement agencies and in part by creating environmental empowerment zones, in which the impact of federal decisions on the health of low-income and minority citizens would have to be taken into account before they are implemented.
"I also called for a measure that will be critical not only in dealing with environmental injustice but also in dealing with environmental health issues generally: establishing a national tracking system for chronic diseases and environmental health hazards."
Edwards: "The Bush administration ... has made major new loopholes in the [Clean Air Act] - allowing plant owners to pollute more. I held public hearings on this issue and am working to marshal opposition to these misguided plans ... I have also fought to secure funding for environmental projects from western North Carolina to the coast ... I also introduced legislation to offer a tax credit to dry cleaners who use environmentally-friendly technology and have fought for funding to research new waste treatment technology to help our hog farmers clean up waste lagoons."
Healthcare
With about 40 million Americans without comprehensive health care coverage, this is a key issue. And, the debate over how government should intervene in the health coverage is ongoing. Some candidates are approaching the problem by proposing government regulations to fight against health insurance companies, while other candidates are proposing a universal-style healthcare system, which would allow every citizen the right to receive benefits from a government-run healthcare system.
Edwards: "We can't deal with the health care crisis in America unless we have the backbone and courage to do what I have been doing my entire life: fighting against big corporations, pharmaceutical companies, big insurance companies, big HMOs. The president works for those people. There's a culture in Washington that stands against taking them on."
Kerry: "I will send to Congress a health care plan that stops spiraling costs, covers every child in America, and makes it possible for every American to get the same health care as any member of Congress."
Kucinich: "It's important that all Americans be covered, [including] alternative medicine, a prescription drug benefit, vision care and dental care and mental health care, and long-term nursing care- all covered under one Medicare For All, single-payer program."
Sharpton: "I have supported single-payer plan. I think the only way you're going to solve these problems is you've got to have a national single-payer plan for everyone. I think that we've got to stop going with half a loaf. I would rather have no bill and fight for something real than to continue to give people something that I think is a diluted version of what we need to have."
The Patriot Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is the bill that was put into law about two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, in response to a call for increased national security. The bill has been controversial since it went into effect. There are many politicians and civil rights groups that feel that many parts of the bill infringe on people's rights. Some of the controversial parts of the bill include giving the FBI easier access to wiretap phone lines, and access to search people's medical and library records if the authorities suspect a link to terrorism.
Sharpton: "[The Patriot Act] seems to be a throw-back to the COINTELPRO days of J. Edgar Hoover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Black Panthers - making legal today what was illegal then. These "Patriot Acts" appear to be using the legitimate fear of 9/11 to pass illegitimate legislation. This legislation is unpatriotic in the most patriotic sense."
Kerry: "I strongly supported including a sunset provision in the Patriot Act. Bush reportedly plans to introduce a second "Patriot Act" - we have learned from the first Patriot Act that the last thing we need is John Ashcroft rewriting the Bill of Rights. I am alarmed by what has been reported to be part of "Patriot Act II" and I will very carefully review any new proposal and fight to ensure that it does not violate civil liberties."
Edwards: "I supported the Patriot Act because it contained provisions needed to strengthen our security, but I also believe this administration has abused its powers in implementing the law. One key provision of the act requires Congress to revisit key provisions of the law. I opposed efforts to repeal that "sunset," and Congress must rigorously review the Patriot Act -as well as any new legislation-to see whether it advances our security and honors our values."
Kucinich: "We have to repeal the Patriot Act, which is a basis of fear that was drummed up in this country without any rational basis for protecting this country. We're being driven by fear, and I have to say that it's time for us to challenge that fear."
At a time when the Republican party has no political contest, the election between the chosen Democratic candidate and President Bush will, no doubt, be a closely watched contest. Politicians and political activists everywhere are already trying to reach out to the 18 to 24-year-old demographic to try to get them to vote.
A reminder to all UMass students living on campus, students can vote in the town of Amherst. Voters must have registered prior to Feb. 11 with the town of Amherst. Here are the polling locations for UMass students who live on-campus: Sylvan and Northeast: Immanuel Lutheran Church, Church Lounge, N. Pleasant St. Central (excluding Van Meter Hall): Wildwood School, Strong St. Orchard Hill (including Van Meter Hall): North Fire Station, E. Pleasant St. Southwest: Hampden Dining Commons. Students who live off-campus may call Amherst Town Hall for polling locations. The phone number is 413-256-4004.
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